I'm still waiting
by Ahnnxah
Summary: 7 years later, and Kohaku hasn't made good on his promise. Two-shot, fluff.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own all of this! Oh wait...Never mind I don't own any of it! ( T.T ) But please, leave a comment. You aren't signing your name away! **

**I've already had one request for this fluffy little oneshot to become a twoshot, and it's only been up one day. I suppose if I get a few more requests for it, I'll see what I can do. ;) **

"A new life and a new school. It is a bit scary."

"I think I can handle it."

And then we drove. We found our new home. The movers piled everything inside, then left. By the time we got there all the mud had dried. My parents still don't understand how three months passed between the day we left our old house and the day we arrived in the new one. I didn't bother explaining. I mean, who would believe a tale like that? With spirits and a bathhouse and a dragon. Not my parents.

Eventually they accepted the loss of three months. They figured out there was something weird about that park, and promised never to go back. They wonder, sometimes, about how I grew up so suddenly. That's the words they used, too. "Grew up so suddenly." I heard them talk about therapy once or twice. But they finally decided against it. I guess they thought I felt like I left my childhood at the old house. But how do you explain that it was left in a world they don't believe in? They wondered about my new belief in the spirits, too. The way I suddenly started leaving little stone houses. I treated nature with a new respect. I made a point to do little things like that. I don't know what they figured about that. Maybe they thought it was my new friends. I don't know. I just know a very few things. My name is Chihiro. I am now 17, a senior in high school, starting tomorrow. The summer I was 10, I disappeared with my parents for three months, and I am the only one in the world who knows what happened. And I'm in love with a river. Who also happens to be a dragon. At least I think he's still a dragon. I haven't seen him since that time. When I was surrounded by the fantastical, the impossible.

But that was seven years ago. Seven long years, and a lot has changed. I spend a lot of time alone now, when before I could barely stand it. I wonder if he ever thinks of me. Kohaku. Haku. My river. He saved me. And I saved him. I gave him his freedom and he gave me mine. I saved his life, and he helped me save my parents. We helped each other. He saved me from drowning, and I saved him from a curse. Our story was interesting, and belongs in a fairytale. But I have never told anyone. I don't want them to think I'm crazy. It's why when someone says the name Sen, I look. It's why I look around whenever someone says Lin or Kamaji. Why I know how to work at a bath house. It was my first job. Twice. I worked there with Lin in the spirit world, and now I work at one in this world. The owner was very impressed with how much I already knew about the work.

I smile to myself, thinking about the way he used to act. Like he hated me. But that was only in front of the spirits. If Yubaba had caught him acting kindly towards me she would have reacted badly. But when we were alone he was nice. He was happier. Seeing him like that gave me butterflies every time. Maybe I am crazy. Holding onto a foolish childhood crush like this. But no guy has ever yet compared to my Kohaku.

On my way home from work, I make a detour. I pull along the dirt road my dad once thought was a short cut. Carefully, I pull up to the old statue and put my car in park. I walk through the tunnel and waiting room, and back out into the sunlight. I walk all the way over to the river. I'm tempted to cross it, but if I crossed, I'm scared I wouldn't want to come back.

"Kohaku." The name slips out and disappears on the wind. "Kohaku!" I yell, loud enough to carry across the river. "I'm still waiting! I haven't forgotten you! Or Granny or anyone else!" After a second I say "I miss you," in a normal voice. I sit down and slip my shoes off, dipping my toes into the water. When the light starts to fade, however, I slide them back on and leave. I know better than to get stuck there after dark.

The next day at school, I greet my friends. We all laugh and tell stories about our summers, just catching up. One of them teases me about my ponytail. How after all this time, I still wear my hair like that, and I still use the same holder for it. They joke that they hoped I would finally grow out of that. I chuckle at their teasing. No need to tell them the truth. No need to tell them that a good witch blessed it, after my friends made it for me. No need to tell them that she said it would protect me.

At lunch, we sit at outside. We laugh more, and they tease me about how I'm the only one who is still single. I just smile and remind them that my heart was stolen when I was a young girl. No one has compared since. They laugh even more, thinking I'm joking. "Then tell us how you met. You told us all about his personality. Tell us the situation." I just smile and take a bite. I debate telling them some of it, but as always I decide against it. It's too personal. Our story. His, and mine.

Some boy behind me says my name. It's probably another one trying to ask me out. I turn around intending to let him down easy, but freeze when I see him.

He's older now. Filled out more. His hair is shorter, styled, but still green. And his eyes, spirits, his eyes haven't changed at all. My friends have fallen silent, waiting to see how I handle this one.

All I can do is ask one question. "Is it really you?"

He nods, just once. And I launch myself at him. I can feel the tears start streaming as my lunch goes flying. And then my arms are around him, and his arms are around me, and we are spinning, and he's squeezing me like he never wants to let go.

Finally I pull back a little, just far enough to look him in the eyes. "What took you so long? I've been waiting for seven years." But I smile so he knows I'm joking. I hear someone clear their throat behind me.

I turn and glance at my stunned friends, a couple of whom are looking a little more curious than I care to deal with right now. I face my spirit again and chuckle, "How do you wanna play this?" He smiles at me and spins me around again.

"Oh, Chihiro. I missed you."


	2. Chapter 2

Kohaku gestures to the side and I nod. As we walk away from my friends, I hear their whispers break out. "So, how long are you staying?" As much as I hate to ask, I can't help it.

"Well, that depends on you."

"On me?"

He turns and looks at me. "I can stay…really until they notice I don't age the same. But if you want…you could come back with me. I know now how to turn you into a spirit. If you wanted you could live with me. You can visit Zeniba and Lin. You would be immortal."

I just stare at him in shock.

"I know you probably aren't interested in going back." He actually seems a little unsure.

"No! Of course I want to go back! It's just…I can't just leave my parents. And…that's a really big commitment. We only knew each other three nights. I mean…that's hardly enough to base eternity off of. And I was 10! I'm not going to base forever off of three nights when I was 10."

He relaxes a little and smiles at me. "I forget how different humans are. When we find someone we…care for intensely, it is rare. We will do anything to keep them."

"No! It's rare for us too! But I care about my parents. And my friends. That's a big decision. I can't just decide to up and leave the life I've spent seven years building here when half the time I was convinced everything that happened there was a dream. I have spent seven years wondering if I made up that fantastical story. Half the time, I honestly thought I was crazy. Seven years! And it makes me wonder how much time has passed there. Three months passed here before I returned, when it was three nights in your world. So if the pattern holds, that means...unless I miscounted...that's 213 years. I can't even really start to imagine that. The longest I thought I would live is maybe 100. Now you are suddenly asking me to disappear and spend more time with you than I can comprehend. And like I said, I knew you three nights in that world. Three. Is that really enough for me to base an entire eternity off of?"

He smiles and hugs me. "Oh, my Chihiro, you have grown."

"I want to say yes. But I'm not ready to say yes."

"Then I will stay. Until you either come with me or send me away."

"What are we going to tell my friends and family? Where will you stay?"

"I have magic. Don't worry about me. As for what we will tell your friends and family, what have you already told them?"

"My family? Nothing. I knew they wouldn't believe the story about a bathhouse and...well...you...and I told my friends your personality. Nothing about how we met. I doubted they would believe it either. Besides it was...I kind of felt like it was too personal, ok? It was our story. I didn't want to share it."

He laughs, and I realize how much I love the sound. "So, what do you think we should tell them then?"

"That you went to my old school with me. Before I moved here. And then you moved here. And then we started talking, even though we didn't too much at our old school. That's what we will tell my parents. My friends? We can tell them the same thing, except that we did talk and know each other. That we liked each other, but were too young, then I moved. How does that sound?"

"I'm trusting you. I know the human world doesn't believe in spirits the way they used to. I don't know if they would believe the truth."

I smile and hug him.

And that's how it happened. We told my friends and family what I said we would. They accepted it. My family believes we will move to America, where Kohaku's job will transfer him. Soon after, we will fake our deaths. It is hard for me to do that to my family, but how would I explain that I have stopped aging? Which I will, once I turn 21. Kohaku will as well. Soon, we will get married, and I will return to the spirit world with him. We will run the bath house now that Yubaba has retired. And I will live with him in his world, in the place I felt at home. I will see Kamaji, and Lin and Zeniba and the rest of my friends. And I will always have my Kohaku with me.


End file.
